


Salty and Sweet

by PolygamousSquamous



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Humor, Husbands, M/M, cooking together, omg they love each other, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28146528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolygamousSquamous/pseuds/PolygamousSquamous
Summary: Newt finds a way to surprise Hermann and reconnect with his Jewish heritage.
Relationships: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 13
Kudos: 21





	Salty and Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Newmann Secret Santa Gift for @thekidasleepinthebackseat on tumblr

Hermann was sitting at his desk just settling into his work for the day when he heard the approaching sound of his partner coming down the hall. Usually, it was just the telltale thud of his ridiculously heavy tread in his doc martens (the man may be short but he was surprisingly compact) but today it was accompanied before he even came into sight by a long drawn out call which as he got closer Hermann distinguished as his own first name. 

‘Oh dear, this means Newton must be excited about something.’ 

The man in question bounded into sight a moment later closing his mouth around the prolonged last syllable of his husband's name and turning to face him expectantly. 

Hermann shot him an unimpressed look in return scowling to keep from smiling (no need to reward such a display of unprofessionalism) and arching an eyebrow as if to say ‘well what's all this then?’

Newt for his part didn’t even answer right away, starting towards Hermann’s desk as though whatever he had to say had to be said in proximity.

After about two steps Hermann stopped him with a raised finger.

“What did I tell you about using my first name?”

Newt squawked indignantly and looked around the lab before he continued his approach to the desk. “Dude we’re literally the only ones here!?”

Herman held his hand out further halting Newt in his tracks again. “I’m sure the whole bloody Shatterdome heard you wailing it down the corridor.”

Instead of looking properly chastised as Hermann had foolishly dared to hope Newt laughed and continued approaching with a glint in his eye that told Hermann he really wasn’t going to like his rebuttal.

“Oh wailing it was I? Well, excuse me. I just got a little carried away, kind of like the other night when I’m sure the whole bloody Shatterdome heard you wailing my name.” Newton adopted that awful fake stuffy British accent as he said the last part and added further insult to injury by having the nerve to reach for him. 

Hermann batted his hands away with his cane, a maneuver usually saved for when the other had been dealing with specimens. “Don’t you dare touch me, you insufferable little man.”

“Again a slightly different tune than from the other night there Herms.” 

Hermann sniffed primly and swiveled in his chair away from Newt. As he turned his attention back to his work Newt heard him grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ‘don’t know why I put up with this ridiculous man let alone love him’

“Aw, I love you too baby.”

At that Hermann harrumphed, like actually harrumphed, which only had Newt laughing again and exclaiming “Adorable!” as he started towards his station. Whatever he had wanted to say when he came in was seemingly forgotten.

“Wait a minute. What was it that you wanted to tell me in the first place?” Hermann paused in his shuffling, curiosity winning out over the need to keep his upset facade. 

“Oh, oh, oh, Hermann!” Newt exclaimed. He did a complete 180 his enthusiasm from earlier returning full force. 

“Yes, Newton.”

“You’re Jewish.” There was a beat after this nonsequitur where both parties just blinked at each other before Hermann realized Newton was looking for some sort of confirmation.

“Yes…I am quite aware.” Hermann had been raised Jewish but hardly ever practiced in the absence of his family especially while being in the midst of a war that consumed much of his daily life.

“No, I mean it's Hanukkah. Well starting tomorrow technically. But yeah.”

Hermann looked over at the date on his computer. “Hmm, so it is.”

“So.. don’t we have to, like, do something for it? Celebrate or observe or whatever?”

“We? Newton, you’re not Jewish-"

"But my parents are!" Newt interjected.

Hermann plowed on, "And even if you were we hardly ‘have to’ do anything.”

“I know. I guess, I just… I never really paid much attention to all of that stuff growing up but we’re married now and I feel like if something is important to you I want to support it and be a part of it.” A measure of insecurity crept into Newt’s voice as he gave the explanation fully aware of how sentimental it sounded.

At this Hermann softened. He understood what Newton was getting at. Their relationship certainly wasn’t typical. Years spent writing letters followed by a falling out, radio silence, then being forced to work together, arguing their way into a relationship, and getting married soon after because: ‘I’ve been in love with you for years! The world could end like tomorrow dude and if I’m being honest I’ve wanted to be your husband since 2014’ was certainly not the usual pattern of romance but he wouldn’t have it any other way even if Newton sometimes needed reminding that he was perfect for Hermann just the way he was. 

Hermann pushed his chair away from his desk and held his arms out towards the smaller man.

“Come here, Newton.” 

He smiled sheepishly and shuffled over settling himself in Hermann’s lap, being sure to put his weight on his good leg and the arm of the chair.

“I appreciate the sentiment, I truly do, but I don’t need you to cheat at dreidel with me, butcher prayers in Hebrew, or nearly burn down our quarters with a menorah to remember that I love you.” He craned his neck around to give Newton a quick peck on the cheek and squeezed him a little tighter. Though he was mostly skin and bone at this point Hermann knew he could still give a damn good cuddle when the need arose. 

Newt sank into the embrace burying his head in Hermann’s sweater and enjoying the rare moment of closeness during their working hours. “What if I wanted to remind you that I love you, Herms?” 

Hermann scoffed at that grasping Newton’s chin and tilting his face up so their eyes could meet. 

Newton had always shown Hermann that he loved him every day since that day four years ago when he got down on one knee and promised that he would. He saw it in the crooked smile Newt gave at his eccentricities that he could never quite manage to make look more mocking than fond, he saw it in the moments of vulnerability and uncertainty that he shared with no one else, and in the small gifts or acts of service, he performed for Hermann without mentioning it after they’d had a particularly nasty fight. 

All this he conveyed with a look and a tender brush of a thumb over Newton’s cheek before shaking himself out of their moment and pushing him the rest of the way out of his lap. 

“Ridiculous! Of course, I’d never forget you love me, Newton. I mean honestly? Now get to work.”

Newt managed to stop himself from tumbling to the ground but it was a close thing. He sent a glare back at Hermann as he slunk back to his workspace. “Okay, okay geez. I thought we were having a nice moment.”

“Yes, that’s what I’ll tell the Marshal when you’re late getting that report to him about those samples. Someone could have walked in and seen us anyway. It was completely unprofessional.” 

Hermann’s lips widened fractionally and let out a smug chuckle under his breath. Newt chose not to take the bait and say anything about the fact that Hermann was the one who called him over to sit in his lap in the first place and instead took out his phone to queue up a song he knew would annoy Hermann as the first on his playlist for the day. Then because he was a softy he followed it with one that always had Hermann humming along under his breath and bobbing his head at the chalkboard. 

For then at least all thoughts of Hanukkah were forgotten. 

***

It was true that both Newt's parents were Jewish but his mother split when he was young and his father and uncle weren't very strict about Newt taking part in organized religion. Which was fine by him. He gravitated more towards science to look for answers and they always supported him. That coupled with the fact that he left home at a very early age for secondary education meant that he was sadly woefully lacking in information about his heritage. 

Later on in the day while Newt was waiting for the centrifuge to process some samples he did some reading up about Hanukkah on his phone. He could've gone to one of the computers but it was too risky, too much of a chance Hermann might see and accuse him of being unable to drop their conversation from earlier.

A cursory skim of the Wikipedia highlights (yes it's a valid source Newt is a scientist for goodness sake) revealed that it actually wasn't a major holiday but that most people in America celebrated it as such because it served as an alternative to Christmas. 

So that explained Hermann's confusion when Newt ran into the lab at level 10,000 this morning. It's not his fault his dad whisked him away from Germany as a child to be raised in America where Capitalism and Christianity influence everything. 

As he read on he saw more about the customs and the origin of the holiday itself. Apparently, some Jewish guys revolted against an oppressive monarch trying to take away their religious freedom, and when the rebellion succeeded they decided to sing, party, and perform sacrifices and shit for eight whole days. Which was very punk rock by the way. Newt could totally dig it. 

As he backed out of Wikipedia an article caught his eye about the different foods traditionally associated with Hanukkah. 

He remembered a letter from Hermann that he received an eternity ago talking about him and Karla making latkes and these jelly doughnut type things with Hermann's mother. According to the article, those jelly doughnuts were called Sufganiyot in Hebrew but the Bavarian word for them was krapfen which looked a little more familiar to Newt and was probably what Hermann’s mother had called them. 

When the centrifuge beeped putting an end to his impromptu research session he put his phone away but was still thinking about that letter where Hermann had mentioned cooking with his mom and sister. He couldn't remember word for word what he'd said in it but he knew that it had been one of the few warm happy moments of Hermann's childhood and that he'd been surrounded by the two people he loved the most. 

He glanced over at where Hermann was now furiously scribbling away at the chalkboard. Most people wouldn't know it just from looking at him but Newt knew that good-tasting food was important to him. He detested the Shatterdome cafeteria but ate there out of practicality and necessity. Whenever he treated himself to take out or the odd contraband treat he could get his hands on he would always close his eyes on that first bite like he was memorizing the taste and texture and hum in appreciation as he ate. It was one of the million little things that Newt loved about him.

At that moment a plan began to take shape of how Newt could surprise Hermann and reconnect with his heritage. He'd have to call in a lot of favors to pull it off and it would definitely set him back a bit on his rainy day savings but it would be worth it to make some new memories for the man he loves. 

***

By the time Newt's plan came together it was the seventh day of Hanukkah. He'd called Karla and she’d barely needed any convincing before Newt received some very detailed recipes and instructions in his inbox. He roped Tendo into helping him track down all the ingredients and with all the bribing and smuggling necessary to get them tucked away in the kitchen of the Shatterdome's cafeteria.

Then it was just a matter of getting Hermann there. 

After coming up with a series of increasingly elaborate plans to do so, Newt settled on just walking up to Hermann and announcing that he had a surprise for him.

“No.” Hermann stood perched on his ladder a piece of chalk hovering over the board as he scanned the lines of equations.

Newt laughed as he answered undeterred by Hermann's lack of attention. “What do you mean no? I do have a surprise for you.”

“Newton, we're too busy for surprises. You have your dissections to finish and I have to check to make sure there’s no error in these calculations.”

“You’ve checked those calculations twice already man I saw them on the board last night.”

“I have to be productive even in the absence of new data.”

Newt knew what this was actually about. Hermann hated these lulls of activity on the base. If he wasn't working he became anxious because of the lack of direction. “Hermann, honey, sweetie, baby, You’re the most productive person on this base and you deserve a break.” 

Hermann dropped the hand poised over the board to his side but didn't relax his shoulders from where they were hunched up nearly past his ears. 

“But what about-”

Newt cut off his further protest. “I got up early and finished those dissections and the report this morning." Hermann hummed non-committally and Newt sensing an opening pressed on. "C'mon leave with me right now. If you don't like your surprise, we'll come right back to work, and your equations will still be here."

He stabilized the ladder with one hand and held the other out for Hermann to take. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to make good on his promise of coming back to work. Hermann took his offered hand and descended. Newt dropped his hand once he was on solid ground handing him his cane instead and leading the way out of the lab towards the kitchen.

Hermann barely said anything on the journey through the Shatterdome’s halls, likely still running the calculations he left behind in his head. Newt wanted so badly to reach out to Hermann and soothe his agitation but he knew that the hallways were considered a public space and he would turn that agitation on Newt in a heartbeat for showing him affection where anyone could see. 

When they first got together Newt used to be bothered by Hermann's rules about public affection. It reminded him a bit too much of past partners who wouldn’t want to be seen with him. He realized Hermann was different when he’d whacked a J-tech in the shins with his cane for making a snide comment about Newt and then loudly defended him and his better qualities to everyone within earshot. God that felt like ages ago. 

When Hermann saw how surprised Newt had been by the whole ordeal he’d told him later in private. ‘The fact that I don’t show affection in front of others has nothing to do with you Newton. You must remember from my letters the way I’ve been raised, the way I’ve lived my entire life is to keep what’s important to me close to my chest.’ Newt had reminded him about how he’d been raised exactly the opposite to wear his heart on his sleeve and to hell with anyone who had a problem with it or didn’t see his worth. They both agreed to meet in the middle and that had been one of their rare conversations that hadn’t turned into an argument. 

Newt smiled at that memory, as they neared the kitchen. It had been one of those moments when all of a sudden he’d been sure he and Hermann would work out that had piled up enough to have him proposing not even a year into them officially dating. 

There they were four years later, Hermann frowning adorably in confusion at the fact that Newt had taken them away from the lab and was holding open the door to the Shatterdome’s kitchen for him. 

“Why…?”

“Your surprise awaits you, Dr. Gottlieb”

Herman’s frown melted away into suspicion tinged with curiosity as he stepped into the kitchen. He leaned forward leading with his head, swiveling it around and taking in the setting before him. 

One of the long prep tables had potatoes, onions, eggs, flour, and oil on it and the other had all of the baking ingredients with milk, yeast, three different kinds of sugar, vanilla, and some rum and apricot jelly. The brands of the jelly he recognized immediately as the same ones his mother used to buy which Newt had ordered all the way from Germany.

As Hermann looked around the kitchen he quickly realized what the ingredients were for and where they must have come from. When he turned around to face his husband it was with tears in his eyes.

"Oh no," Newt said, stepping up into Hermann's space. He hovered his hands near his arms unsure yet if he should touch. "Is it too much? Did I go too far?"

Hermann shook his head. "Oh, Newton. This must-have cost you a fortune." The unshed tears that were welling and glistening in his eyes made them look even bigger and softer than usual.

Newt still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the reaction. "Sorry?" he offered tentatively. 

He placed his hands on Hermann’s shoulders only to have them shrugged off violently in the next second as the emotions swimming in Hermann’s eyes turned to annoyance and his tears overflowed while he snapped. 

“What on earth are you apologizing for?” he practically shouted. 

“You’re crying!” Newt shot back defensively. 

“Of course I’m crying this is the bloody nicest thing anyone has ever done for me!” Hermann cried.

“Then why are we yelling!” 

“Because, you fabulous, gorgeous, amazing, thoughtful, man you just make me so happy it's infuriating!” 

Newt let out a laugh at that, a smile overtaking his features as Hermann also let out a tearful chuckle fully aware of how ridiculous he was being.

Newt put his hands back on Hermann’s shoulders as he asked, “Can I give you a hug now?”

“You damn well better.” 

Newt rolled his eyes and hauled Hermann into his arms. Hermann hunched down making himself smaller so the two of them could be cheek to cheek as he leaned into the embrace. 

“Thank you, Newton. This is perfect really.” Hermann spoke softly, his breath tickling Newt’s ear.

Newt squeezed him even tighter but when he spoke tried to keep his tone casual. “No problem. You know I’d do anything for you. Happy Hanukkah Herms”

They stood there in each other’s arms until they both stepped back with one last squeeze. Newt then clapped his hands and turned towards the tables and the ingredients.

“So. Where do we start?”

The two began working on the food together and it felt nice. Newt had brought a speaker down from the lab and queued up a playlist of Hermann’s favorites while they worked. 

Of course, they still had their fair share of arguments over the preparation as they went but in the end, they were easily settled by referring back to Karla’s instructions. Hermann followed them to the letter measuring everything exactly while Newt tended to eyeball a measurement that was close enough while Hermann wasn’t looking. 

Newt found a couple of aprons for the two of them which Hermann accepted gratefully and also a chef’s hat someone had left which he refused unequivocally. The hat ended up on Newt’s head as he worked and Hermann tried to ignore how cute he looked even with the ridiculous accessory. 

He didn’t however bother hiding his appreciation for Newt’s forearms when he was mixing ingredients or rolling out dough. It was nice to see those hands at work on something appetizing for once and something that was all for him no less. He was meant to be keeping an eye on the oil heating on the stove but instead felt his cheeks heat as Newt looked up with a wink when he caught him staring.

Newt thought it would be cute to boop Hermann on the nose with some flour and never one to stop his impulses he went for it. Hermann wrinkled his nose going cross-eyed to look at the offending spot of flour on the tip. 

Newt couldn’t hold back his laughter at this which earned him a face full of powdered sugar.

“Hey this stuff was expensive!” he protested between sputtering and trying to lick off as much of it as he could reach. 

“Most unsanitary.” Hermann huffed hiding another smile and going to fetch a cloth. 

Newt wiped his glasses off on his apron and before he could replace them Hermann was back in his space and wiping his face clean. Once he was satisfied with his job he took the glasses out of Newt’s hand replaced them on his face brushing a fingertip softly down his cheek before stepping away to check the oil and leaving Newt staring after him with a dumb smile on his face. 

The latkes were quicker to finish and every time a new batch came out Newt would immediately try to eat them without waiting for them to cool much to the dismay of Hermann and the roof of his mouth that suffered from the burns. 

Hermann relegated him to krapfen duty taking the ones that had cooled sufficiently and adding the jelly to the middle and powdered sugar to the outside. They ran into a similar problem when Newt didn’t wait long enough for them to cool causing the jam to run out the sides which he then tried to cover with an overabundance of powdered sugar. 

Hermann then quickly finished with the latkes and put Newt on clean up duty as he finished making the rest of the pastries to his liking. Newt still ate the misshapen ones, much to Hermann’s dismay, exclaiming around a mouthful, “What? It's all going to the same place.”

When everything was clean they sat down to two large plates one with the latkes and the other with the krapfen. 

Newt watched with bated breath as Hermann took his first taste of each waiting for the telltale signs of his eyes fluttering shut and a pleased hum from deep in his chest that showed he had done okay with all of this. 

While they ate their fill neither of them spoke just enjoying the peace in each other's company and the music filling the kitchen from Newt’s speaker. When they both had enough and the song turned to something slow and sweet Newt stood suddenly holding a hand out to Hermann.

“May I have this dance?” he asked, his eyes twinkling and his smile crooked in a way he knew Hermann couldn’t resist. 

Hermann took the hand without any hesitation. He stood setting his cane to the side and leaned his weight on Newton as they swayed back and forth to the music. They were both pretty full of savory and sweet at this point so the dance was gentle, more about holding each other and appreciating the song than anything else. As the final notes played they ended up pressed against one another eyes locked. Newt saw reflected in Hermann’s everything he could have hoped for when he planned this surprise for him. He looked peaceful, content, and utterly beautiful. 

“I love you so much,” Newt whispered, the words spilling from his lips as natural as breath itself.

Hermann tilted his head down. “I love you immensely,” he murmured before pressing their lips together in a tender kiss. Neither of them was quick to pull away the kiss deepening and receding as they tasted the sugar on each other's tongues. 

They had reached a lull, their foreheads pressed together when a loud bang at the door caused them to jerk their heads toward the sound. 

When they looked over it was to see Riley Beckett sprawled on the floor from where he’d tripped trying to make a hasty retreat after entering the kitchen and seeing it was occupied.

“Sorry!” he called out. Beckett scrambled to his feet before the two surprised scientists could even make a move to help him. Once he was upright he spoke again a little more composed than before.

“Sorry. The mess is closed so I didn’t think anybody would be here, but then I smelled something really good, and when I came in I didn’t know that you two would be… sorry to interrupt.”

Newt and Hermann who had been holding each other throughout this exchange at last dropped their arms and stepped back. Newt said, “Hey no worries man.” At the same time, Hermann said “Quite alright, Ranger Beckett.” they straightened their clothes and Hermann reached over ripping the chef’s hat off of Newt’s hair leaving it sticking up at an angle. 

Beckett watched all of this with a bemused smile blooming on his face.

"Actually wait," Newt said, turning back to the table and scooping up the plates with the remaining potato cakes and pastries. "Would you like some?"

Beckett tried to shake his head no but the way his eyes locked onto the food it was as if the man was practically starving. 

"C'mon," Newt said, approaching and thrusting both plates into his hands. "Hermann and I were finished anyways there's no way we could eat them all." When he saw Beckett still hesitating he pressed on. "As a matter of fact if you wanna do me a favor take these down to Loccent and give a couple to Tendo. I owe him for helping me surprise the mister over there."

Hermann grumbled some protest about being a doctor, not a mister that Newt promptly ignored. 

Beckett's brow furrowed in confusion as he looked between them. 

"The mister- wait, are- you guys are married?"

Now it was Newt's turn to be confused.

"What? Yeah, c'mon dude, we've been married for years. You really couldn't tell?"

"Nope, guess I missed that part. I thought you guys didn't even like each other."

"Well, we don't," Hermann said, stepping forward next to Newt. "Liking and loving are not always mutually inclusive."

"Ha. ha," Newt said sticking his elbow out to catch Hermann in the ribs. To his surprise, before he could pull his arm back fully Hermann looped his own arm through linking them together, and gave him a fond look. 

All of a sudden Newt felt weak at the knees. It wasn't a hug or even holding hands but he knew that for Hermann it was a big deal. He had linked their arms together, in front of another person, on purpose! A simple act that said 'I'm with him.' 'We're together.' Newt could cry from how soft he felt. 

Beckett must have sensed the strange shift in the air because he thanked them for the food and excused himself quickly to go find Tendo. The couple barely spared him a glance as he left.

Newt spoke up first breaking the silence.

"You secret sap! Breaking your rules for me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Newton. We are hardly in a professional setting and besides, it’s likely the man already saw us kissing when he walked in.”

“Dude you can’t say ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about Newton,’ and then defend against the very thing that I am talking about.” Newt fired off, slipping into his god-awful accent again while parroting Hermann’s words back at him.

“Well in that case I take it back,” Hermann said, slipping his arm out of Newt's and untying his apron.

“Nuh-uh. Nope. No taksies backsies. We can hook arms in public now. These are the baby steps, Herms. It's only a while before you go, full-on exhibitionist. Hand holding in the hallways. Lip locking in loccent.”

“Mein Gott I’ve created a monster,” Hermann said as he untied Newt’s apron as well, lifted it over his head, and tossed both onto a nearby stool next to the chef's hat. 

With the rest of the evidence of their activities cleared away, Newt grabbed his speaker and they both left the kitchen closing the door and turning the light out behind themselves. 

As they walked back to their quarters for the night Hermann kept his free arm looped through his husband’s, Newt falling into step easily beside him, and though they passed several of their coworkers he didn’t pull away even once. 

fin.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed it! Please consider leaving a comment or kudos if you did.
> 
> I am not Jewish. I did my best to do the characters justice and be respectful based on their wikis, fan discourse, and the research I did. Please don't hesitate to let me know if I got anything wrong or if anything in this doesn't sit right.


End file.
